Three kinds of run-on
- Fused sentence: two sentences with no punctuation between them. “I love to write I do it every day.”
- Comma splice: two sentences joined only by a comma. “I love to write, I do it every day.”
- The long, breathless sentence: technically correct but so long that readers lose the thread. Anything past 30–35 words with few pauses deserves a second look.
Five ways to fix one
- Full stop: “I love to write. I do it every day.”
- Semicolon: “I love to write; I do it every day.”
- Comma + conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, for, nor): “I love to write, so I do it every day.”
- Subordinate one clause: “Because I love to write, I do it every day.”
- Cut and restructure: “I write every day because I love it.”
Is a long sentence a run-on?
Not necessarily. A run-on is about structure, not length: “I ran.” plus “She stayed.” fused together is a run-on at four words. But very long sentences are hard to read, so TextCheck marks them separately with a readability note rather than calling them errors.